Ve El Mar — Restaurant in Oaxaca

Ve El Mar restaurant was recommended by a sales person at the Mercado. Since it was minutes away, we took the short walk over.

The restaurant appeared small when we walked into the entrance, but later noticed that more tables were available towards the beach. We ended up sitting there, under the palapa dining area.

Our server, Ana, took our drink order first. Some of us were still indecisive, nonetheless, orders were placed and ready to eat

I always have to remind myself, every city in Mexico prepares their dishes differently. I love my shrimp ceviche, but last nights order was not the taste I’m use to. It was good, not awful, but it lacked umph. I had to squeeze multiple lime wedges to get it up to my par. I usually don’t use salt on my food, but I did this time, on my shrimp ceviche. Also, the shrimps were served in full size and not cut into pieces. Another dish we had taste issues with was the aqua chile. Couldn't figure out what it was-either need to add or lacked something - it just didn’t taste right. According to server Ana, Worcester sauce was added. Still not convinced, but the dish was consumed anyway, with several shrimps left over. The others liked their red snapper and carne asada tacos dish.

Our overall experience at Ve El Mar was good. No major issues. Would like to come back again and try the...

CHRISTMAS DINNER Unfortunately my dining experience here was disappointing. I had high hopes, when I signed up for the Christmas dinner for this year. It was quite pricey, so I expected a very good meal. But the whole process was very confusing. Our information wasn’t taken correctly as we came in the door. The Christmas event appeared a little unorganized. And instead of giving customers the benefit of the doubt they chose to argue with us instead. So there was confusion right off the bat. Once we finally got seated and started, it was better. There was a good band playing, And our server was superb/excellent. The food however, was disappointingly cold by the time it reached our table. Everything was cold so the flavor was off. I did not enjoy the meal. There were two options, a seafood option and steak option. The quantity of food was good for the seafood option, but it was cold and pasty The quantity of food for the steak platter did not appear to be much at all, definitely NOT for the price paid. Dinner included one bottle of wine per couple, and that was nice and it was decent wine. Overall…A big disappointment, and to make it worse this is not my first bad experience at this restaurant. I do not recommend it, and I will not...

April 2025 update:

Our second visit, and we were seated at the edge of the beach. Ava looked after us. We got a guacamole to start and we ordered a particular bottle of Malbec, which was out of stock, so instead we got one at 600 pesos, 100 pesos less. I ordered spaghetti, with about 5 shrimp , some pieces of octopus, and a small lobster tail, partially in the shell. My wife had the 5 coconut shrimp served in a coconut shell, as in the past. Dessert, we shared a mamey helado in the fruit skin. This was really good ice cream, and a great choice, as recommended by the gentleman that greeted us upon our arrival. A Saxophone player provided music. Our total was 1665 before tip ( including the 600 pesos wine ). Always a good choice for dinner in Santa Cruz.

March 2023 update: Great meal tonight on the beach. Great quality once again. Very nice server as well.

A group of 10 of us blossomed to 17 and the staff rearranged the tables to accommodate us without issue. The mojitos were very good. The meals were excellent. My wife had octopus, said it was the best she had anywhere except in Greece. I had a pasta with shrimp and octopus, and it was excellent as well. Very nice spot for a meal in Santa Cruz and...